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David Sedaris' "Santaland Diaries" is an NPR tradition. This year, we asked you to describe your imaginary shift as a Santaland elf. Responses ranged from heartwarming to devilish.

"They say, 'Thefilos, tomorrow I'm going to need 50,000 euros, cash,' " says a Greek bank teller.

"That's just crazy," Cincinnati fan Caleb Lloyd said Monday night after he ended up snagging two home run balls — from consecutive batters — during the Reds' 4-1 win over the visiting Atlanta Braves.

The favored candidate in Sunday's presidential election is from the PRI, which ruled Mexico for decades, until it was ousted from power in 2000. Enrique Pena Nieto promises a different approach to drug violence and says he can boost a struggling economy.

The former president is in Egypt to observe its first free presidential election, which begins on Wednesday.

Israel's prime minister has called for parliamentary elections more than a year ahead of Israel's next scheduled vote. Netanyahu and his Likud party are running strong in the polls, but issues such as Iran, the Israeli economy and the role of the ultra-Orthodox will factor into the campaign.

Long reviled by many Egyptians as the backbone of a corrupt and abusive state, the country's police have become unlikely heroes for opponents of now-ousted President Mohammed Morsi. The police haven't been reformed, but frustration with the Islamist ex-president trumps public anger at the police.

Have you ever found yourself in the library or a bookstore, about to go on vacation, with no idea what books to bring? NPR's Lynn Neary talks to three book critics about the best reads of the summer.

Yukiya Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said today that Iran has agreed to steps that will let international inspectors learn more about its nuclear program.

No good deed goes unpunished, and no one escapes Ismail Kadare's satire in this madcap indictment of Balkan totalitarianism. Set in Albania during WWII and its aftermath, The Fall of the Stone City is an incisive, biting work by a master of dark comedy.